Members Login

Log in using

Not a Member Yet?

Why Join?

When you create an account with us, you'll be able to save your favourite books, make a wishlist of upcoming titles, receive newsletters about books you'll love, get recommendations tailored to you and order our books directly. Join us by creating an account and start getting the best experience from our website!

More information

More information

The Fatal Tree

By Jake Arnott

£P.O.R.

A seductive, clever tale of crime, punishment and love among thieves set in 1720s London - Jake Arnott does for the 18th century what he did for the 1960s in his cult hit THE LONG FIRM.

Newgate Gaol, 1726. An anonymous writer sets down the words of Edgworth Bess as she confides the adventures and misfortunes that led her all too soon to the judgement of London:

Cruelly deceived, Bess is cast out onto the streets of the wicked city - and by nightfall her ruin is already certain. What matters now is her survival of it.

In that dangerous underworld known in thieves' cant as Romeville, she will learn new tricks and trades. And all begins with her fateful meeting, that very first night, with the corrupt thief-taker general Jonathan Wild.

But it is the infamous gaol-breaker, Jack Sheppard, who will lay Romeville at her feet . . .

Drawing on the true story that mesmerised eighteenth-century society, the acclaimed author of The Long Firm delivers a tour de force: a riveting, artful tale of crime and rough justice, love and betrayal. Rich in the street slang of the era, it vividly conjures up a murky world of illicit dens and molly-houses; a world where life was lived on the edge, in the shadow of that fatal tree - the gallows.

Includes a glossary.

Biographical Notes

Jake Arnott was born in 1961, and lives in London. He is the author of THE LONG FIRM, published by Sceptre in 1999 and subsequently made into an acclaimed BBC TV series. His second novel, HE KILLS COPPERS, was also made into a series by Channel 4. He has since published the novels TRUECRIME, JOHNNY COME HOME, THE DEVIL'S PAINTBRUSH and THE HOUSE OF RUMOUR.

Other details

ISBN:
9781473637771

Publication date:
23 Feb 2017

Page count:

Imprint:
Sceptre

A work of dazzling imagination and linguistic inventiveness — Alex Preston, Observer

A rambunctious narrative of venery, theft, death and a devil-may-care braggadocio, its doomed love story undercuts and counterpoints the swagger with a touching melancholy. — Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail

Jake Arnott, who is probably best known for excellent novels such as The Long Firm about London gangsters in the 1960s, has done much more than update the work of his 18th-century predecessors. Unlike them, he shows the citizens of Romeville as people, not as folk heroes or bogeymen . . . Arnott explores what poor Bess calls 'the felony of love', a crime that is not on the statute book. The result is powerful, poignant and readable. — Andrew Taylor, Spectator

Jack's awkward courtship of Bess is a highlight of the book - Arnott's best so far - and genuinely moving . . . an astonishingly vivid act of ventriloquy that breathes life into infamous corpses — Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard

The narrative is woven through with vividly portrayed characters, from Bess and Jack themselves to the superbly realised, wonderfully named Punk Alice and Poll Maggot, the transvestite Princess Seraphina; and the mixed-race heavy, Blueskin. Arnott delights too in the secret language of thieves — Wyl Menmuir, Observer

Bawdy and rich with vivid evocations of the past . . . The Fatal Tree is Arnott on beguiling form, with the libidinous Bess a wonderfully multifaceted character. Who would have thought that a cult crime writer would become the Daniel Defoe of our day?

— Barry Forshaw, i News

A seductive, cunning tale of crime, punishment and love among the thieves, prostitutes and charlatans of 1720's London. Laced with vibrant detail and deliciously evocative period language, Arnott's atmospheric novel is a Hogarth print come to life . . . With a cast of delightfully convincing characters and lines that are reminiscent of Dickens or Wilde, Arnott has triumphantly breathed life into history - and the result is glorious. — Attitude

[Arnott's] flair for noir - corruption, menace and the psychosexuality of gangsters - transposes well into "Romeville" . . . He gifts his prig-nappers and pot-valiant bawds the kind of one-liners Moll Flanders would have rejoiced in. — Hermione Eyre, Guardian

Hodder & Stoughton

The Silver Collar

Antonia Hodgson

Authors:

Antonia Hodgson

The next rip-roaring thriller from Antonia Hodgson, featuring Thomas Hawkins - more information coming soon!Praise for Antonia Hodgson'In a tale that more than matches its predecessors for pace and atmosphere, Hawkins is forced into confrontation with a psychopathic killer . . . hugely enjoyable' - The Sunday Times'One of the most impressive practitioners of the historical crime genre' - Independent

Nora

Brenda Davies

A Gift in December

Jenny Gladwell

Authors:

Jenny Gladwell

Journalist Jane Brooke is getting over a career high...and love life low. When her editor nominates her to join some glamorous bloggers and cynical journalists on a trip to Norway for a feature on the story behind the famous Norwegian Christmas tree, dubbed the Queen of the Forest, which the country gifts each year to the UK to be displayed in Trafalgar Square, she feels only annoyance. But Jane hasn't anticipated discovering a moving story behind this historic gift, and she certainly isn't expecting to find love amidst all that snow, but this trip could turn out to be the perfect Christmas present.

A Daughter's Journey

Anna Jacobs

Authors:

Anna Jacobs

Jo Melling has arrived in Birch End from Australia, still grieving her father's recent death. She's not intending to stay long, but after tracking down her distant family, Jo becomes more involved in village life than she could ever have imagined - and suddenly in danger too.Jo also finds herself drawn to Nick, a handsome newcomer to the village. Nick had planned to settle in Birch End and start a business, but as he grows closer to Jo, he realises he may have to choose between his dreams and a chance at love.Meanwhile, the new local council are faced with some tough decisions of their own. It's time to take a stand against the poor conditions in Backshaw Moss, the nearby slum, but some councillors want things to stay as they are - and will go to any lengths to make sure they get their way . . .Will the decent people of the valley win a brighter future for themselves? And can Jo find a way to stay with Nick in a place she's grown to love?Praise for Anna Jacobs' Ellindale series'One of the most lovely and heart-warming books I have ever read! 5 STARS' - Between the Pages 'A book of family, love, friendship and loyalty. 5 STARS' - Stardust Book Reviews'I was gripped from the very first word on the very first page and I wasn't released until the last word on the last page . . . When I finished I felt like I had been through an emotional wringer. 5 STARS' - Ginger Book Geek

Secrets of the Homefront Girls

Kate Thompson

Authors:

Kate Thompson

A new series from bestselling author Kate Thompson. Stratford, 1939.Although England may be at war, for the young women working the lipstick production line at Yardley's cosmetics factory, it's business as usual.For headstrong and flirtatious Renee Gunn, that means taking Esther, a young Austrian refugee, under her wing and teaching her how to be a true East End girl.But when Lily, Renee's older sister, suddenly returns home after six years away, it's clear that life in Stratford is changing for good.In the face of the Blitz, could the secrets that Renee, Lily and Esther are keeping be the most dangerous weapon of all?

The Bone Fire

S D Sykes

Authors:

S D Sykes

The brand new Oswald de Lacy thriller, for fans of C.J. Sansom, Minette Walters and S.J. Parris.1361. Plague has returned to England - thirteen years after the devastation of The Black Death. As destruction advances towards his estate in Kent, Oswald de Lacy leads his family to the safety of a remote castle in the marshes - where his friend Godfrey is preparing a fortress to survive the coming disaster. The rules are clear: once the de Lacys and other guests are inside the castle the portcullis will be lowered and no-one permitted to enter or leave until the Pestilence has passed. And then a murderer strikes. Oswald is confronted with a stark choice - leave and face the ravages of the plague, or stay and place his family at the mercy of a brutal killer. With word of his skills as an investigator preceding him, it falls to Oswald to unmask the murderer in their midst. Host, guest, or servant - everyone is a suspect in this poisoned refuge of secrets, deceit and malice.

The Devil's Slave

Tracy Borman

Authors:

Tracy Borman

In this powerful follow-up to The King's Witch from celebrated historian Tracy Borman, the Gorges family remains under threat from King James and his circle. Any hint of association with the members of the Gunpowder Plot will lead to mortal danger, but old loyalties - and loves - will not always be denied.Praise for The King's Witch'The adventures of her courageous heroine put flesh on the bones of a fascinating historical framework' Sunday Mirror'Tracy Borman's debut historical novel has it all: conspiracy, betrayal, dark intrigues, bloody deeds, a poignant love story - and the most famous plot in English history' Alison Weir, author of the Six Tudor Queens series'An accomplished novel with a vivid historical setting . . . the scenes in which Frances defends herself accusations of witchcraft are particularly strong' The Times(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt

Andrea Wulf, Lilian Melcher

Bangkok Wakes to Rain

Pitchaya Sudbanthad

Authors:

Pitchaya Sudbanthad

Places remember us... 'An important, ambitious, and accomplished novel. Sudbanthad deftly sweeps us up in a tale that paints a twin portrait: of a megacity like those so many of us call home and of a world where sanctuary is increasingly hard to come by' Mohsin HamidIn the restless city of Bangkok, there is a house.Over the last two centuries, it has played host to longings and losses past, present, and future, and has witnessed lives shaped by upheaval, memory and the lure of home.A nineteenth-century missionary pines for the comforts of New England, even as he finds the vibrant foreign chaos of Siam increasingly difficult to resist. A jazz pianist is summoned in the 1970s to conjure music that will pacify resident spirits, even as he's haunted by ghosts of his former life. A young woman in a time much like our own gives swimming lessons in the luxury condos that have eclipsed the old house, trying to outpace the long shadow of her political past. And in the submerged Bangkok of the future, a band of savvy teenagers guides tourists and former residents past waterlogged landmarks, selling them tissues to wipe their tears for places they themselves do not remember.Time collapses as their stories collide and converge, linked by blood, memory, yearning, chance, and the forces voraciously making and remaking the amphibian, ever-morphing city itself.Praise for Bangkok Wakes to Rain:'Beautifully textured and rich with a sense of place . . . compellingly captures not only the long arcs of these lives - but also the smallest moments, and how those moments linger in memory, how they haunt.' Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Age of Miracles 'A bold and tender novel about the unforgivable and the unforgiven, and how to live past what you thought you could not survive. Sudbanthad arrives to us already a masterful innovator of the form.' Alexander Chee, author of The Queen of the Night 'Moves with an elegant restlessness that seems to match the city's own. Reading this book feels like waking to a singular and important new voice.' Rajesh Parameswaran, author of I Am An Executioner

A Sea of Gold

Julian Stockwin

Breathe

Dominick Donald

Authors:

Dominick Donald

A Sunday Times, Observer, Evening Standard and Daily Mail book of the year'Remarkably accomplished' Observer'Casts a magical spell' Daily Mail'Deeply impressive' Evening StandardA stunning debut crime novel for fans of Robert Harris, Philip Kerr and C.J. Sansom's Dominion.London, 1952. Dick Bourton is not like the other probationer policemen in Notting Hill. He's older, having fought in Europe and then Korea. And he's no Londoner, being from Cotswold farming stock. Then there's Anna, the exotically beautiful White Russian fiancée he has brought back to these drab streets and empty bombsites. She may as well come from a different planet. The new copper also has a mind of his own. After an older colleague is shot by a small-time gangster they are chasing in a pea-souper fog, something nags at Bourton's memory. He begins to make connections which his superiors don't want to see, linking a whole series of deaths and the fogs that stop the city in its tracks. Desperate to prove himself and his theories, Bourton fails to notice the fear which his mysterious bride is doing her best to conceal - and overcome.Soon both Anna and Bourton are taking dangerous paths into the worst fog London has ever known...**********"London had gone. As he stepped through the wicket, a dry smoky chill puffing over the lintel, everything that made the city - skyline, street signs, crowds, scarlet double-deckers - had disappeared, lost in the murk. I can't see the kerb, for God's sake, let alone Barker's across the road. He looked both ways, the chill crawling down his neck . . . Coshing gangs will love this. And our man. But we're on your trail, sunshine. He raised his hat to Marling, locking up behind. Tomorrow we nab you."

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free

Andrew Miller

Authors:

Andrew Miller

The rapturously acclaimed new novel by the Costa Award-winning author of PURE, hailed as 'excellent', 'gripping', 'as suspenseful as any thriller', 'engrossing', 'moving' and 'magnificent'.One rainswept winter's night in 1809, an unconscious man is carried into a house in Somerset. He is Captain John Lacroix, home from Britain's disastrous campaign against Napoleon's forces in Spain.Gradually Lacroix recovers his health, but not his peace of mind. He will not - cannot - talk about the war or face the memory of what took place on the retreat to Corunna. After the command comes to return to his regiment, he lights out instead for the Hebrides, unaware that he has far worse to fear than being dragged back to the army: a vicious English corporal and a Spanish officer with secret orders are on his trail.In luminous prose, Miller portrays a man shattered by what he has witnessed, on a journey that leads to unexpected friendships, even to love. But as the short northern summer reaches its zenith, the shadow of the enemy is creeping closer. Freedom, for John Lacroix, will come at a high price. Taut with suspense, this is an enthralling, deeply involving novel by one of Britain's most acclaimed writers.'His writing suspends life until it is read and is a source of wonder and delight' Hilary Mantel on Casanova in the Sunday Times

Women of the Dunes

Sarah Maine

Authors:

Sarah Maine

The new novel from the acclaimed author of The House Between Tides, winner of the Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2018!****It is the women who are keepers of tales.Atmospheric, intoxicating and filled with intrigue, this sweeping novel is an epic story spanning the centuries, that links three women together across history. Libby Snow spent her childhood hearing stories and legends from long ago. Now an archaeologist, her job is to dig deeper into the past, but her excavation at Ullaness, on Scotland's west coast has a very personal resonance. For the headland of Ullaness holds not only the secrets of the legend of Ulla, the Norsewoman, but also begins the strange story of Ellen.Libby's grandmother passed on these tales - of love, betrayal and loss - but the more Libby learns at Ullaness, the more twisted the threads become. When human remains are discovered in the dunes, it becomes clear that time, and intention, have distorted accounts of what happened there. Is it too late to uncover the truth? Or is Libby herself in danger of being caught up in this tangled web of fable and deceit? Praise for Sarah Maine:'An echo of Daphne du Maurier' - Independent'Maine adroitly weaves together the three strands of her novel' Sunday Times'Maine writes beautifully about the wilderness' - The Times'Maine skillfully balances a Daphne du Maurier atmosphere with a Barbara Vine-like psychological mystery...' - Kirkus

The Sealwoman's Gift

Sally Magnusson

Authors:

Sally Magnusson

A Zoe Ball ITV Book Club Pick'Sally Magnusson has taken an amazing true event and created a brilliant first novel. It's an epic journey in every sense: although it's historical, it's incredibly relevant to our world today. We had to pick it' Zoe Ball Book Club***SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN 2018 & THE SALTIRE LITERARY AWARD FOR BEST FICTION*** 'A remarkable feat of imagination ... I enjoyed and admired it in equal measure' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent 'A powerful tale of Barbary pirates ... richly imagined and energetically told.' Sunday Times - 100 Best Books to Read This Summer'Engrossing' Sunday Express 'Fascinating ... a really, really good read' BBC R2 Book Club'The best sort of historical novel' Scotsman 'A lyrical tale' Stylist 'A poetic retelling of Icelandic history' Daily Mail 'Compelling stuff' Good Housekeeping'An extraordinarily immersive read ... examining themes of motherhood, identity, exile and freedom' Guardian1627. In a notorious historical event, pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted 400 people into slavery in Algiers. Among them a pastor, his wife, and their children.In her acclaimed debut novel Sally Magnusson imagines what history does not record: the experience of Asta, the pastor's wife, as she faces her losses with the one thing left to her - the stories from home - and forges an ambiguous bond with the man who bought her. Uplifting, moving, and witty, The Sealwoman's Gift speaks across centuries and oceans about loss, love, resilience and redemption.Chosen for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club (a really, really, good book) and the ITV Zoe Ball/Specsavers Book Club (the quality of the writing is amazing).'Icelandic history has been brought to extraordinary life... An accomplished and intelligent novel' Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, author of Why Did You Lie?'Vivid and compelling' Adam Nichols, co-translator of The Travels of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson

The Iberian Flame

Julian Stockwin

Phoebe

Paula Gooder

Authors:

Paula Gooder

Sometime around 56 AD, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. His letter was arguably his theological masterpiece, and has continued to shape Christian faith ever since. He entrusted this letter to Phoebe, the deacon of the church at Cenchreae; in writing to the church that almost surely met in her home, Paul refers to her both as a deacon and as a helper or patron of many. But who was this remarkable woman? In this, her first novel, Biblical scholar and popular author and speaker Paula Gooder tells Phoebe's story - who she was, the life she lived and her first-century faith - and in doing so opens up Paul's theology, giving a sense of the cultural and historical pressures that shaped Paul's thinking, and the faith of the early church. Written in the gripping style of Gerd Theissen's The Shadow of the Galilean, and similarly rigorously researched, this is a novel for everyone and anyone who wants to engage more deeply and imaginatively with Paul's theology - from one of the UK's foremost New Testament scholars.

Retribution: The Centurions III

Anthony Riches

Pandora's Boy

Lindsey Davis

Authors:

Lindsey Davis

'Lindsey Davis has seen off all her competitors to become the unassailable market leader in the 'crime in Ancient Rome' genre . . . Davis's squalid, vibrant Rome is as pleasurable as ever' - Guardian'For fans of crime fiction set in the ancient world, this one is not to be missed' - BooklistPrivate investigator Flavia Albia is always drawn to an intriguing puzzle - even if it is put to her by her new husband's hostile ex-wife.On the Quirinal Hill, a young girl named Clodia has died, apparently poisoned with a love potion. Only one person could have supplied such a thing: a local witch who goes by the name of Pandora, whose trade in herbal beauty products is hiding something far more sinister.The supposedly sweet air of the Quirinal is masking the stench of loose morality, casual betrayal and even gangland conflict and, when a friend of her own is murdered, Albia determines to expose as much of this local sickness as she can - beginning with the truth about Clodia's death.****************Praise for Lindsey Davis and the Flavia Albia series'Davis's prose is a lively joy, and Flavia's Rome is sinister and gloriously real'The Times on Sunday'Davis's books crackle with wit and knowledge . . . She has the happy knack of making the reader feel entirely immersed in Rome'

The Angel of Darkness

Caleb Carr

Authors:

Caleb Carr

The sequel to the internationally bestselling historical thriller THE ALIENIST, now a major Netflix series, starring Luke Evans, Dakota Fanning and Daniel Brühl.A year after the events that took place in the bestselling THE ALIENIST, the cast of characters are again brought together to investigate a crime committed in the heady days of New York in the 1890s, this time narrated by the orphan Stevie Taggert. A young child, the daughter of Spanish diplomats, disappears. It seems she has been abducted but no ransom note is received and the detectives Isaacson quickly discover that a nurse, Elspeth Hunter, is probably the kidnapper.They also discover that Hunter has been a little too closely connected with the death of three other infants. But what are her motives? She married a fortune, and although she is connected to some fairly rough villains this crime does not fit their modus operandi. Is it something as 'simple' as psychological disturbance due to her own inability to bear children, or something more sinister unguessed at?

Persephone

Julian Stockwin

Authors:

Julian Stockwin

Unputdownable naval action from the master of the sea story - Julian Stockwin returns with the next installment of action from Captain Sir Thomas Kydd.November 1807. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd must sail to Lisbon to aid the Portuguese Royal Family's evacuation in the face of Napoleon's ruthless advance through Iberia. In the chaos of the threatened city an old passion is reawakened when he meets Persephone Lockwood, a beautiful and determined admiral's daughter from his past. But the Royal Family's destination is Brazil, Perspehone's England, and it seems Kydd's chance has gone again. Only later he discovers Persephone has another suitor - and that, if he wants to win her hand, he must enter the highest echelons of London society.Mixing with aristocracy and royalty brings other responsibilities. The Prince of Wales asks him to take temporary command of the Royal Yacht. Sailing to Yarmouth, Kydd realises they are being stalked by French privateers. The terrible threat of a prince of the blood being captured sees Kydd call on daring seamanship of the highest order.'In Stockwin's hands the sea story will continue to entrance readers across the world' (Guardian)